Swedish charity pays millions to telemarketer

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A national association dealing with child custody issues paid over 80 percent in overhead costs totalling nearly 34 million kronor ($5 million) to a telemarketing company from the donations it received from two campaigns last year.

The National Association of Home and School (Riksförbundet Hem och Skola) received slightly more than 42 million kronor in donations during two campaigns last year.

However, nearly 34 million kronor in contributions went to a telemarketing company, according to an investigative report SVT's Uppdrag Granskning programme published on its website on Wednesday.

The programme will air a report about its investigation on Wednesday evening.

The agreement between the agency and Pool Media gives Pool 800 kronor for every 1,000 kronor donated, the report said.

The agreement with the telemarketing company is not only very expensive for the agency, it is also very long, extending to 2027.

In an application for state subsidies, the agency stated it has 40,000 members, of whom at least half are students or parents. The large number of reported members resulted in the organisation receiving 675,000 kronor in state subsidies last year.

However, the organisation actually has about only 3,900 members. The remainder that are reported as members are companies, municipalities and counties that donated money to its campaigns, according to the report.

According to Swedish Collection Control, which controls collections to other charitable organisations, including BRIS (Barnens Rätt i Samhället) and Save the Children, the rule is that at least 75 percent of the money should go back to the organisation.